Category Archives: Taxes

From Sacramento Bee: A year ago, Luis Alberto Mendez was an able-bodied immigrant from Mexico who worked as a carpenter. He had suffered from depression, but his lawyer said he had gotten the symptoms under control with medication. He was also undocumented illegal.

Today Mendez is a quadriplegic who is confined to his brother’s home in San Jose. He needs constant care and has no money. He blames Sacramento County and the U.S. government, and he’s suing them both.

Mendez, 37, is a native of Mexico who does not dispute that he was in the United States illegally in 2016. When agents detained him, he willingly signed an order agreeing to immediate deportation, his lawyer says. If the government had just sent him home then, he contends, he would not be paralyzed.

Instead, he was taken to the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove. There, his lawsuit claims, jailers ignored his pleas for access to medical care. He eventually attempted to kill himself by jumping off a second story balcony on the prison grounds, his lawyer said.

The fall didn’t kill him, but it left him a quadriplegic in need of a lifetime of medical care. His lawsuit accuses the U.S. government and Sacramento County of negligence, Fresno attorney Douglas Gordon said Friday.

“He is at a little home in the San Jose area being tended to by his family,” said Gordon, who filed the lawsuit in federal court in Sacramento on Thursday. “He’s quadriplegic; he has no money.”

The circumstances that led to Mendez being detained remain unclear.

Gordon, his lawyer, notes that federal policy at that time would have directed immigration agents to leave him alone because he had no felony convictions or criminal ties that would have led them to deport him.

Nonetheless, ICE agents set up shop outside his San Jose home in August 2016 waiting for him to appear. “They had him on some sort of list, had information on where he lived,” Gordon said. “They waited for him to come out of his house, and when he came out on his bicycle riding to work they detained him.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman James Schwab said the agency would not comment on pending litigation.

But Gordon maintains that federal policy at the time, under the Obama administration, required that ICE agents ignore his presence in the country and focus instead on dangerous criminals or gang members.

“The worst crime that ICE has on him was a 2015 assault that was dismissed as misdemeanor,” Gordon said. “He was not supposed to be targeted.”

When Mendez was apprehended by ICE for removal on Aug. 15, 2016, the agency was working under the Morton Memo, authorized by President Obama in March 2011. That memo states that ICE’s number one priority is “aliens who pose a danger to national security or a risk to public safety.”

Immigrants convicted of crimes, particularly violent criminals, felons, repeat offenders and members of organized crime, all were singled out as priorities.

Those with mental health issues, like Mendez, were not supposed to be targeted. “Absent extraordinary circumstances or requirements of mandatory detention, field office directors should not expend detention resources on aliens who are known to be suffering from serious physical or mental illness,” the memo states.

Mendez apparently was targeted despite that edict, and appeared before a deportation officer on Aug. 15, 2016. He signed a voluntary deportation order, which typically would have resulted in him being flown home to Mexico.

Instead, for reasons that have yet to be explained, Mendez was given a notice to appear before an immigration judge in the future. He was shipped off to the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center, where federal officials contract with the Sacramento Sheriff’s Department to hold ICE detainees.

Once there, the suit states, Mendez began asking for help for his psychiatric needs, which included access to anti-psychotic drugs to deal with a schizophrenia diagnosis, his attorney said.

Mendez had been suffering from depression before he was detained, and tried to cut himself on his neck in February 2016 and again in June 2016, Gordon said. He subsequently was prescribed anti-psychotic medications and he “was well maintained and doing fine,” Gordon said.

“Then, he was detained,” Gordon said, and authorities denied him access to such medications.

Sheriff’s Department spokesman Sgt. Shaun Hampton declined to comment on the suit Friday, saying county officials had not yet seen it.

The lawsuit says that because Mendez was denied “reasonable care,” he attempted to kill himself by jumping off “an elevated structure” and fell, hitting his head and suffering spinal cord injuries, a traumatic brain injury and other damage.

The injuries will require a lifetime of medical care, his attorney said, and his family has had difficulty caring for him.

“They’ve struggled to get him on Medi-Cal,” Gordon said. “He has nobody to care for him except his brother and sister, who work. It’s a real struggle for the family.”

“Judge Berns has been active in the LGBTQ community helping others understand domestic violence and sexual assault within that community. She has co-authored a chapter on LGBTQ Minorities and Sexual Offenses in the Sexual Offense Bench Guide for Judges, and a chapter on LGBTQ DV in the Domestic Violence Manual for Judges. She is the Project Chair for the King County Domestic Violence and Child Maltreatment Coordinated Response Oversight Committee, and is on faculty for the National Council of Juvenile & Family Court Judges for judicial education programs entitled “Enhancing Judicial Skills in Domestic Violence Cases.”

From Seattle Times: King County Elections is pulling an anti-sanctuary city initiative off the Nov. 7 Burien ballot, following a Thursday court ruling. The initiative calls for repealing a city ordinance, passed by the City Council in January, that bars police officers and other city employees from asking about a person’s religion or immigration status.

King County Superior Court Judge Elizabeth Berns issued a preliminary injunction Thursday morning declaring the ballot measure invalid on several grounds, including that it exceeded the scope of authority granted to initiatives and deviated from state requirements “for the contents and form of a petition.”

“It was a little overwhelming to get to this point,” said Hugo Garcia, a member of Burien Communities for Inclusion, the group that sought the injunction. “But yeah, I’m very happy.”

The initiative, pushed by the organization Respect Washington, sparked a fierce immigration debate in Burien that mirrored the national one prompted by President Donald Trump’s rhetoric about Mexicans being criminals and stealing American jobs.

Burien Communities for Inclusion cited language in Respect Washington’s petition to argue that it used inflammatory language that misrepresented the ordinance it sought to repeal.

The petition said the ordinance “threatens the safety of every Burien citizen and legal resident by allowing criminal aliens, like the one who shot Kate Steinle in San Francisco, to prey upon others inside our once peaceful town.”

The plaintiffs also successfully argued that the petition intruded upon the city’s rights to govern its own affairs.

“It tells the city of Burien what kind of instructions to give its employees,” said Dmitri Iglitzin, a lawyer for Burien Communities for Inclusion, which includes city residents and other immigrant advocates.

Neither Respect Washington nor its lawyer could be reached immediately for comment.

Janine Joly, senior deputy King County prosecutor, said Thursday she had not yet heard of an appeal filed by the group. If Respect Washington did appeal, and won, she said a court would have to issue emergency relief to get the initiative back on the ballot.

The deadline for sending ballots to the printer is Thursday, said King County Elections spokeswoman Kafia Hosh. “Our team is working right now to create new ballots without the measure,” she said. The county is required to send ballots to overseas residents and service members by Sept. 23.

Garcia said the initiative had created a lot of fear in Burien, even for him, a naturalized American citizen who came here from Mexico when he was 8. “As a Latino male, I don’t know that cops are going to be able to differentiate whether I’m documented or undocumented illegal,” he said.

I reported how the city council was contemplating this decision back in August. Now they’ve made it a “right”for illegal aliens to vote. How progressive!

From Fox5DC: The College Park City Council has voted in favor of a measure that would allow city residents who are not U.S. citizens to vote in local elections. College Park joins six other towns in allowing legal permanent residents and undocumented immigrants (also known as illegal aliens) to vote in municipal elections.

It was a very contentious debate inside College Park City Hall as almost two dozen people signed up to speak on the matter during Tuesday night’s meeting. One man against the proposal came to the podium saying he was called a Nazi while waiting in line to voice his opinion.

The reality is allowing all people to vote in municipal elections is going to make College Park more inclusive, and that has been the history of voting rights expansion in the United States and what has happened in our neighbors in Maryland who have expanded voting rights to non-U.S. citizens,” said Todd Larson, who is in favor of the proposal.

“Although you come up here and you say that there are hundreds of citizens and residents of College Park that are for this charter, I can tell you that there are thousands against it,” said Beth DeBosky, who is against non-citizen voting. “Voting is a right of the citizens. It’s plain and clear. It’s constitutional. It’s also written at the state level and it also belongs at the local level.”

Later into the meeting, a council member proposed a new amendment that would only allow green card holders to vote and exclude undocumented immigrants illegal aliens. However, the vote on the green card amendment failed.

“Lewis Kamb and Jim Brunner report for Seattle Times that on April 6, 2017, a 46-year-old man with the initials D.H., a resident of Kent, Washington, filed a lawsuit in King County Superior Court, claiming that Ed Murray had “raped and molested him” over several years, beginning in 1986 when the man was a 15-year-old crack-cocaine addicted high-school dropout. Murray gave the teen payments of $10 to $20.

Two other men, Jeff Simpson and Lloyd Anderson, had accused Murray of abusing them in the 1980s when Simpson was 13 and Anderson was 16 years old. Both men had known Murray when they were growing up in a Portland center for troubled children.”

In July, I reported that it was revealed that the mayor was investigated by Oregon Child Protective Services (CPS) in 1984. The CPS determined that Murray should never again be a foster parent. From my blog post:

While the allegations against me are not true, it is important that my personal issues do not affect the ability of our City government to conduct the public’s business.

I’m proud of all that I have accomplished over my 19 years in the Legislature, where I was able to pass what were at the time the largest transportation packages in state history, a landmark gay civil rights bill and a historic marriage equality bill.

And I am proud of what we have accomplished together at the City during my time as mayor, passing a nation-leading $15 minimum wage, and major progressive housing affordability and police accountability legislation, as well as negotiating an agreement to build a world-class arena that I believe in time will bring the NHL and NBA to Seattle.

But it has also become clear to me that in light of the latest news reports it is best for the city if I step aside.

To the people of this special city and to my dedicated staff, I am sorry for this painful situation.

In the interest of an orderly transition of power, Council President Bruce Harrell will become Mayor upon my resignation, and will decide within the following five days whether he will fill out the remainder of my term. During this time Director of Operations Fred Podesta has been tasked with leading the transition.

A cousin of Murray accused him of sexual abuse, The Seattle Times reports. The Times reports that Joseph Dyer says that he was molested by Murray in the 1970s when he was 13.

“There would be times when I would fake sleeping because I didn’t want him touching me,” Dyer told the Times. “And that’s when he would molest me.”

Murray told the Times that he denies the latest allegations. He says there is a “backstory” between his family and his cousin’s family. Murray believes they want to “finish” him off.

Allegations of abuse originally surfaced in the beginning of April. Since then, the man who filed a lawsuit against Murray dropped it; he then filed another lawsuit against the City of Seattle demanding millions. His lawyer, Lincoln Beauregard, tweeted the following on Tuesday after news of the latest allegation broke: The truth normally prevails…

Murray has vehemently denied the allegations. He wrote an op-ed in which it alleged conspiracies of “political take down.”

Though the lawsuit against Murray was dropped, several notable names in Seattle, including two council members, have called for him to resign. The city’s LGBTQ Commission and Human Rights Commission also called for Murray to resign.

Murray previously said he will not step down before his term ends. “I continue to believe such a course of action would not be in the city’s best interest,” he said in July. “That is why I am not going to resign, and intend to complete the few remaining months of my term as mayor.”

Karl Marx’s vision of communism is a utopian society of “to each according to his needs, from each according to his abilities”.

By that measure, New York mayor Bill de Blasio, aka Warren Wilhelm Jr., is through and through a communist.

In an interview with New York magazine’s fawning Chris Smith, published on Sept. 4, 2017, de Blasio revealed his true, dangerous Bolshevik beliefs.

In the New York interview, claiming to speak for “people all over this city,” de Blasio railed against the institution of private property. He said that “if I had my druthers,” America would be a totalitarian state (“a very, very powerful government, including a federal government”) wielding total power over every facet of people’s lives ( “involved in directly addressing their day-to-day reality”) in accordance with the communist dictum of “in accordance to their needs”. At the city level, the totalitarian state would “determine which building goes where, who gets to live it, what the rent will be”.

These are his words:

“What’s been hardest is the way our legal system is structured to favor private property. I think people all over this city, of every background, would like to have the city government be able to determine which building goes where, how high it will be, who gets to live in it, what the rent will be.I think there’s a socialistic impulse, which I hear every day, in every kind of community, that they would like things to be planned in accordance to their needs.And I would, too. Unfortunately, what stands in the way of that is hundreds of years of history that have elevated property rights and wealth to the point that that’s the reality that calls the tune on a lot of development. […]

Look, if I had my druthers, the city government would determine every single plot of land, how development would proceed. And there would be very stringent requirements around income levels and rents. That’s a world I’d love to see, and I think what we have, in this city at least, are people who would love to have the New Deal back, on one level. They’d love to have a very, very powerful government, including a federal government, involved in directly addressing their day-to-day reality.

It’s not reachable right now.”

In the meantime, before he could have his druthers as a totalitarian mayor of New York City, de Blasio prides himself on having implemented little socialist “fixes,” such as:

rent freeze

free lawyers for those being evicted

ending tax breaks for luxury condos

mandating the construction of affordable housing

more taxes on “the wealthy”

minimum wage increase

What de Blasio the communist neglected to say in his interview is that he himself is “the wealthy,” with an estimatednet worth of $1.5 million.

From The Independent: A student who mocked Isis on Facebook is being investigated over claims his post put “minority students at risk and in a state of panic and fear.”

Robbie Travers, a 21-year-old third-year law student, is being probed by the University of Edinburgh over claims he committed a “hate crime,” even though no criminal investigation by the police has taken place.

The complaint came when he shared a comment after the US Air Force dropped a massive ordnance air blast (MOAB, or “mother of all bombs”) on a network of Isis tunnels in Afghanistan in April.

Mr. Travers wrote on Facebook: “Excellent news that the US administration and Trump ordered an accurate strike on an Isis network of tunnels in Afghanistan. I’m glad we could bring these barbarians a step closer to collecting their 72 virgins”.

In a complaint to the university seen by The Times, Ms. Allman wrote: “Not only do I believe this behaviour to be in breach of the student code of conduct, but his decision to target the BME (Black and Minority Ethnic) Liberation Group at the University of Edinburgh, and how he has chosen to do so, puts minority students at risk and in a state of panic and fear while attending the University of Edinburgh.”

But Mr. Travers said the complaint against him came in retaliation to him pointing out how Ms. Allman had allegedly referred to black men as “trash,” before adding “all men are trash.”

A spokesman for the university confirmed complains alleging misconduct against Mr. Travers were being investigated, telling the paper: “We are committed to providing an environment in which all members of the university community treat each other with dignity and respect and our code of student conduct sets out clear expectations of behaviour.”

This past Wednesday he went public with an incident he had with the Las Vegas Police Department in August. We know there are two sides to every story yet it’s quite interesting that Mr. Bennett omitted a couple important details from his story. Read on…

(From Bennett’s Twitter post: ““A police officer ordered me to get on the ground,” Bennett wrote. “As I laid on the ground, complying with his commands to not move, he placed his gun near my head and warned me that if I moved he would ‘blow my (expletive) head off’.”)

“A lot of people of color have dealt with this before,” Bennett said. “And I hate that it happened to me, but I’m lucky to be in the situation to have the platform to continuously speak on injustice.”

Bennett said he told his family, teammates and head coach Pete Carroll about the incident after it happened in late August. After seeking advice about how to handle it, Bennett ultimately decided to make a public statement.

“There’s a lot of people who experience what I experienced in that moment,” Bennett said. “And they’re not here to tell their story.

“It’s an emotional moment for me. I know a lot of people are like, ‘Oh, did he want this on himself?’ I didn’t ask for this moment. It just happened to be me… any moment, I could have made the wrong decision. Whether move or (make the officer feel) like I was resisting or doing something wrong, and (the Seahawks) would be wearing… the patch with the No. 72 on it.”

A clearly emotional Bennett stood at the podium at Seahawks headquarters in Renton and fielded questions for nearly seven minutes before pausing during a question about his family.

The question was about a statement he made last year about being a black man in America – how even great accomplishments or fame cannot protect or make people of color immune from racism, racial profiling or police brutality.

“I try to tell my daughters every single day that they matter, and that…” Bennett said, before quietly walking out of the auditorium.

Cornerback Richard Sherman, who spoke to reporters shortly after Bennett’s exit, said Bennett’s own encounter is evidence in itself for the causes Bennett publicly supports — including his controversial decision to sit during the national anthem.

“Mike is literally sitting, taking a stand, doing everything he can to combat the same thing that he experienced,” Sherman said.

“And people are so worried about him sitting down during the national anthem that they completely miss that message a lot of the time. They want to be more angry at the action than the message. And that’s an unfortunate part of the world we live in nowadays. I wish that people would take it for what it is and make a difference.”

And what exactly did the Las Vegas Police Department have to stay about the incident that occurred in late August? From USA Today:

Las Vegas Police Department undersheriff Kevin McMahill held a news conference Wednesday to respond to Bennett’s allegations, which he revealed earlier in the day.

“Many of the folks today have called this a incident of bias-based policing, police officers focusing solely on the race of an individual that they’re going to stop,” McMahill said. “I can tell you as I stand here today, I see no evidence of that. I see no evidence that race played any role in this incident.”

The officer who apprehended Bennett didn’t have his body camera on and it was not immediately clear why, McMahil lsaid. He added there are 126 videos from the officers that will be reviewed, and if those reveal that “any policies or training was violated, those officers will be held accountable.”

In a social media post, Bennett claimed he was singled out for “simply being a black man.” He added that “the officers’ excessive use of force was unbearable.”

Officers responded to reports of a possible active shooter in the casino around 1:30 on Aug. 27 after the Floyd Mayweather-Conor McGregor fight.

While searching for an active shooter, an officer noticed Bennett crouched near a gaming machine. Two officers gave chase when the individual (later identified as Bennett) ran out of the casino and onto the strip. Both officers were armed with handguns, and the arresting officer did not turn on his body camera.

“You hear the officer approaching the door saying, ‘There he is.’ He gives chase, Mr. Bennett jumped over the wall, our officer jumped went over the wall immediately there after,” McMahill said. He said Bennett was detained for 10 minutes and released.

Bennett said he was not given “any justification” for his apprehension.

So Mr. Bennett is “crouching” during an active shooter situation? Understandable if he knew what was occurring. But if he didn’t know it might be an active shooter situation, then why is he crouching behind a gaming machine?

Even if Bennett didn’t know of the active shooter situation, why would he choose to run from a police officer? Guess it’s just one of those things that might make us white people uncomfortable.